The End of The Prophecy
by nogigglingmajor
Summary: How I think the end of season 4 should've played.


**AN:** I love The Lost World; I'm trying to get the series on DVD (it's only available in America sadly). I've read the plot and ending for season 4 so this is my extended idea based on that. The children are my idea; there is nothing of that in the original plot.

In my spare time I study physics and quantum mechanics, so the bit at the end is based on my scientific understanding of timelines, and how I believe, scientifically, it would work.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters of The Lost World nor the show, if I did, we'd all be celebrating season 4!

The End of the Prophecy

"Ok, everything's set up and Challenger is just finishing off the potions to help with the pain." Veronica announced as she came up the stairs. "Are you still rotating those pales?"

" Ah huh." Was the affirmative from Ned, who stood at the fireplace. Veronica walked to the balcony where Roxton stood, rubbing Marguerite's back.

"How are you feeling?" The dark haired woman groaned.

"Not too bad, I suppose." This was quite an admission from the woman. For though she complained incessantly, she never liked to show pain as she saw it as a weakness.

"Well, everything's ready. Shall we go down?" Marguerite nodded and reached for Veronica's arm, who then led her down the stairs. As she reached her bedroom she looked back at John, but quickly reminded herself propriety dictated he stay there and wait the birth, no matter how much she wanted him to be with her. She gave him the most reassuring smile she could muster, knowing he'd worry about her. John meanwhile was doing his best not to run, take her in his arms and find a quiet, safe place for her in her vulnerable state. He knew what propriety dictated.

Ned, who had been feeling rather uncomfortable in the given situation watched as John stared at the closed bedroom door like a lost puppy. Seeing this as his time to act, he came up behind the man and placed a firmer hand as he dared on he shoulder.

"How about a game of cards now eh, Roxton?"

"Huh?" Ned dragged the poor fellow to the table and dealt out the cards.

"Veronica? How's she doing?" There was a gentle knock on the door and the scientist entered. "Here's the potion." Veronica thanked him.

"I don't need any pain killers, I'm doing fine!" Challenger raised an eyebrow.

"Of course you are Marguerite. I'll leave them here for later." Then to Challenger she lowered her voice. " Her pains are closer together now, but I think there may still be a while to go. Have you got something to make the fire really hot? We'll need to burn the afterbirth right away." The scientist grinned and held up a vile of white crystals. "Great."

"AGHHHHH…Veronica!" The girl grimaced.

"Got to go." The scientist quickly left. " Just breathe through it Marguerite, remember what I taught you."

Veronica had indeed taught Marguerite an awful lot. A year after her parents had disappeared a woman from the Zanga village decided it was time to teach the young girl the facts of life. Veronica had been present at many births, including one where both mother and baby had died. As a result she was quiet proficient at the procedure. When Marguerite had first approached her about the possibility of her being pregnant, the two had quietly organised a trip to the Zanga Village, where a Healer could perform some tests. When the pregnancy had been confirmed, Marguerite had convinced Roxton to spend a few days at the lake with her where they could discuss it without interruption.

_"Well Marguerite, the sun's setting over the lake, it's beautiful temperature…how about a swim?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Suddenly a little self-conscious, Marguerite crossed her arms and snapped at him._

"_Is that all you ever think about Roxton?" Slightly offended he stared at her, still thrown by her changing moods._

"_Now Marguerite that's not fair! You know I'm not like that!" She shrugged her shoulders and walked a little way down the strand, Roxton running after her. "Marguerite!" When he finally caught up with her, his hat on the ground back at camp, he was shocked to see that she was crying. "Love, what's wrong?" She didn't say anything and tried to bury herself deeper into his embrace. Gently grasping her chin, Roxton lifted it forcing her to look at him. "Marguerite?" She sighed._

"_I'm pregnant John." There was silence as John's eye's widened._

"_Pregnant? With a baby?" Marguerite rolled her eyes._

"_No, with an apeman, of course with a baby!" Suddenly she found herself whisked into his arms and being carried back to camp._

"_Shouldn't you be lying down or something? You walked all this way, we should"_

"_I'm pregnant not an invalid. For heaven's sake Roxton, put me down!" He did so very gently. "Do you remember when Veronica and I went to the Zanga village two days ago? I went to see a Healer, she thinks I'm about 2 months."_

"_And everything's ok with you and the baby?" She smiled._

"_Yes." In a moment John had lifted her up and was spinning her around like he had during their tree house waltz so long ago._

"_Oh Marguerite my dear, this is wonderful!" He spun her again for good measure before setting her down and kissing her fiercely._

"_You're happy about this?" She asked, uncertainty and fear in her eyes._

"_Why of course! I used to dream we'd have a family together in England. Avebury is the perfect place for children." Marguerite sighed and John stopped. "You are happy about this aren't you? Marguerite?"_

"_Like you said, Avebury is the perfect place for children. Here however is certainly not! If we were in London the child would be vaccinated, have pretty clothes, go to school-"_

"_Is that really important?" She turned to him sharply, a haunted look in her eyes._

"_Education is very important John." She turned to look back over the lake and Roxton could see her trying to control her sobs. He walked over to her and stroked her hair._

"_I know, I know how important it is to you. What I meant was, what the child would learn in London is hardly applicable to here. This is the plateau Marguerite!" He stopped to wipe he tears. "The child will learn from us, all of us. Why, with you Veronica and Challenger our kid will be speaking five languages, blowing things up and swinging from vines by the time they're five!"_

"That's it, that's good breathing." Marguerite's death-grip on Veronica's arm slowly lessened. The woman then groaned and stood, pacing for as long as she could before the next contraction hit.

"How much longer?" Veronica sympathised with the woman.

"I'm not sure, all births are different." As reassuring as Veronica sounded, she was secretly worried. It had been 6 hours and still Marguerite's waters had not broken. "Let's do another check."

"I want to push!"

"You can't yet, you're not open enough."

"I don't care…AGHHH!"

Roxton could hear the moans from downstairs, and was quickly loosing his patience.

"Is it supposed to take this long?!" Ned, who had long since given up trying to distract the man, shrugged.

"Oh, it can. Some births take more than a day." Challenger answered. An unusually loud groan caught the three's attention, Ned clearing his throat uncomfortably. The groan turned into a cry that suddenly changed pitch, followed by.

"Oh my god…CHALLENGER! Bring a pale!" Ned handed the scientist the warmest one, who then when hurtling down the stairs followed by a frantic Roxton.

"Marguerite! Is she alright? What-"

"It's just her waters, calm down John."

"But-"

"Challenger, refill this and bring another – John? What are you doing down here?" At the mention of his name, Marguerite called out.

"John? John!" He barrelled through the door.

"Wait, your shoes! You'll bring in dirt!" Veronica quickly stripped him down to his trousers, before allowing him any further,

"John, John it hurts." She was in pain but John was so happy to have her in his arms that he was smiling as he stroked back her sweat soaked hair. She was dressed in a loose, white-cotton nightie, and Veronica was busy cleaning Marguerite's legs with a warm cloth, before yelling for Challenger to take the pale and refill it. "I know…I know you're not supposed to be here. But I wanted you here, I wanted you here." John placed light kisses on her forehead.

"And here I'll stay."

Roxton awoke to find Marguerite's side of the bed empty. She was 5 months along now but still doing all her chores, refusing to let her pregnancy get in the way of her pulling her weight. Ned had joked she should do twice as much work as she had the weight of two. To everyone's surprise Marguerite had laughed at the joke and more had followed. He worried about her though, more than once, in the safety of night, she had voiced her fear of not being able to love the child; not having received a parent's love herself. How could she possibly give it? He'd explained that a parent's love was not something one learned, but rather something that just happened. It will come, he had told her.

He found her sitting in the corner of the balcony, crying, her arms wrapped around her protruding belly. Terrified something had happened he rushed over.

"Marguerite?! Are you in pain, should I get Challenger?" He opened his mouth to bellow for the scientist when Marguerite firmly placed one of his hands on her stomach and the other on her cheek.

"We're fine, we're both fine." She managed to choke out between sobs. Calmed somewhat that she was in no immediate danger, Roxton settled on the wooden floor in front of her, waiting for her to say what was upsetting her.

"I'm so scared. What if I don't love this child enough?" Roxton sighed in relief, at least this he could deal with.

"I told you Marguerite, you will love it. The moment the baby's placed in your arms it will flow. Please, you have to trust me on this." The raven-haired woman shook her head.

"You don't understand. I killed it. I killed the first one." Her words were whispered but they cut through John like a knife.

"Marguerite, what are you talking about?" She looked up at him, fear evident in her eyes.

"It was during he war, it was my job. But I fell pregnant. He raped me. I couldn't have a child, John, I just couldn't! There were too many people who wanted me dead, and the war was no place to have a child in. It wasn't made out of love anyway. I took a concoction I knew some of the…prostitutes took. It was so painful and there was so much blood, but I had to do it, I had to! I killed my own child John." She cried in earnest and John knew she had never properly grieved for the incident. He had no idea what to say about her latest secret. He'd promised that all her secrets would be safe with him, and they would. He would not turn away from her for this.

"But this, this is so different John." She was calming now and looking at him, her eyes begging him to understand. "I want…I can't express how much I want this child. And I do love it, I do. This feeling is so overwhelming I don't know what to do with it. But I don't deserve this, this child deserves a better mother." John spoke now.

"Marguerite, you did what you had to do and you did what you thought was right. I can't judge you for that, nobody can. I'm not going to turn away from you because of what you did." She searched his face for what seemed like forever before nodding slowly.

"Thankyou for listening, I still haven't forgiven myself, but maybe now I can try and make up for what I did." John nodded.

"If you feel that is what you need to do. I promised you that your secrets would be safe with me. Marguerite, I believe the only thing that our child is in danger from is from being loved too much!" She laughed as he wiped away her remaining tears.

"I felt the baby move before. Actually, it hasn't stopped moving. Here." She brought his hand high up on the side of her belly and he felt the constant flutter of small foot against his hand.

"You want to sit for a while longer?" Marguerite nodded and John kissed her temple before settling beside her, keeping his hand on her belly.

By now the contractions were almost on top of each other; Marguerite's cries never seeming to stop, except when she took a breath.

"Marguerite, I need you on the bed now, it' time to push."

"About time!" Roxton carefully lifted her onto the bed and at Veronica's instruction, helped to bend Marguerites knees back.

"Owwww!" he kissed her temple.

"It's almost over sweetheart, you're doing so well." Marguerite's only answer was cry that turned into a scream as she started to push. It was now that a torrent of anger began. Her fist collided; quiet weakly with John's chest.

"I hate you." She sobbed. "This is all your fault!" Veronica smirked.

"Oh come now Marguerite, there were two equally willing participants in this."

"Ok, that's more than I ever wanted to know about your love life. I think I'm going to be sick." Roxton laughed and Marguerite glared. "Come on Marguerite, the head's crowning!" Veronica's voice was so full of excitement that both John and Marguerite temporarily forgot about the pain and leaned forward, until Marguerite threw her head back and screamed. " It's the shoulders, always the most painful." Veronica hurried to reassure a worried John.

"AGHHH! Make it stop, make it stop." She was withering on the bed, straining to move away from the pain.

"Marguerite, no! You'll hurt the baby!" The woman stopped instantly, fear for her child overcoming her pain. Veronica took the opportunity and worked quickly to free the child's hips and legs. Marguerite fell back onto John with sudden relief, breathing heavily.

Thanks to Challenger's dissecting kit, the sharp sterile knife made quick work of the cord and after swaddling the baby in a clean cloth, Veronica placed the baby on Marguerites chest, encouraging her to feed it.

"Congratulations! It's a girl." Tears were streaming down Marguerite's face as her shaking hands placed her breast to her daughter's – _her daughter_ - mouth.

"Am I doing it right?" She asked worriedly. Veronica sniffed and nodded. "Hello little one, I love you. I love you so very much." John squeezed her shoulders and she turned exhausted eyes to him.

"We love you little one, and I love you." He gently kissed his partner. "Will you look at that crop of hair! She's going to be the spitting image of you, darling."

"Marguerite I know you're tired, but I need you to keep your knees bent. It will help with the after-birth." Soon Marguerite felt a hot, uncomfortable sensation and Veronica announced she was done. She called for Challenger who quickly appeared to take the wrapped bundle from her and raced upstairs again. Then her and Roxton helped Marguerite to sit up slightly with her knees still bent. "You need to keep your knees up for an hour, and absolutely no rising from the bed until morning." The pair nodded and Veronica cleaned away the bloodied sheets before leaving to clean herself up and tell the others the news.

"She's beautiful. Thankyou so much. I can't tell you how amazing you are right now." Marguerite smiled and swiped at the tears that were beginning to fall again.

"Do you like Annalise? That's what I want to call her." She raised her eyes, searching his face for approval.

" I think it's a lovely name. She'll need a second one too, though." Marguerite hummed in agreement. At that moment Annalise opened her eyes to reveal two dark orbs. Being only a couple of hours old she did not place the awed gasp as her mother's, nor could she witness her parents' enchanted gaze.

"I must have done something right." Her mother whispered.

Veronica slumped exhausted into a chair Ned rushed to get her some tea.

"A girl, a beautiful baby girl."

"Excellent! Wonderful!" Challenger was humming and waltzing around the room. "Ah if only Jessie were here. Have they decided on a name?" Veronica accepted the tea from Ned and shook her head.

"No, not yet. I think they'll want some time alone. Roxton will come and get us when they're ready.

In the quiet, dim light of the bedroom, Marguerite was lying slightly on her side, one hand hanging down to stroke her daughter's head as John bathed the child.

"Veronica and Ned will have a son." John looked up at her.

"Huh?" She continued to watch Annalise as she explained.

"The prophecy, it's all falling into place now. I could've swung the reality storm in any direction I wanted, but you were here to guide me, to love me and show me the right path to good.

"And I always will be." Marguerite smiled at her lover before returning her gaze to her daughter.

"Annalise will marry Veronica and Ned's son and a have a child. Finally the two lines will be one. There will be one more reality storm for the child to calm, and then finally the Plateau will be safe." It certainly made sense and John had long since come to believe Marguerite's gift of visions.

"You've certainly got your future cut out for you little one. But your mother and I will be there to help you, every step of the way."

A quiet knock on the door sometime later, woke Marguerite. It was Veronica.

"The family's quiet eager to see the new addition. May we?" She nodded and everyone quickly piled in.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet our daughter, Annalise Roxton." John was at once surrounded by Ned and Challenger, while Veronica sat by Marguerite and talked quietly.

"Oh she's a mini Marguerite alright! Just look at that hair!" Ned chuckled, holding the newborn up to the light. "She's gorgeous Roxton, well done!"

"Oh it's Marguerite who's deserves the 'well done.'" Ned nodded and handed Annalise over to Challenger who cradled the child gently.

"Well now, aren't you a beauty, and surely going to be a fiery girl just like your mum." He spoke quietly to the baby who watched him with wide eyes. He looked at the parents.

"Has she got a middle name?" Roxton looked at Marguerite and nodded.

"Finn. Annalise Finn Roxton." The raven-haired woman said quietly. The group were silent as they remembered the spirited young woman.

"I wish she was here." Whispered Veronica, and Ned wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She'd been the closest to the girl, the two practically sisters.

"We all do my dear. But hopefully she is now living in a safe, happy world with her family and a good education. The silence continued for a moment, before being interrupted by a gurgle from Annalise and the family surrounded her once more.

Far away, across the plateau a lanky girl with short blonde hair stumbled over a root and cursed. It was going to be a long walk to the tree house.


End file.
